Accredited guests checking into Beijing hotels for the 2008 Olympic Games will pay much less for their rooms than participants did in Athens in 2004.

Organizers yesterday promised that the city's large number of hotels would make it possible to keep room rates at reasonable levels.

"As Beijing has enough hotels, prices are sure to be lower," said Xiang Ping, vice-director of the Games Services Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

The average price for a five-star hotel room will be US$353, while that for four-star and three-star hotel rooms will be US$272 and US$176 respectively. This compares to prices of around 500 euros (US$628.9) for a five-star room during the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Xiang said: "As we promised in our Olympic bid, the highest price for a standard room for accredited participants will be no higher than US$370."

According to Xiang, BOCOG has so far signed services contracts with 112 hotels in Beijing including 38 five-star, 40 four-star and 34 three-star hotels.

Together with the Olympic Village, the Athletes' Village and the Media Village, these hotels will accommodate 50,000 accredited athletes, journalists, officials and sponsors.

"The prices are based on quotes from all the hotels in 2005 and 2006, any rates of increase in Beijing hotel prices and the consumer price index," Xiang said, adding that the prices will only be a little higher than present rates.

As for prices for tourists and spectators, Xiang said she hoped they would be similar to the contracted hotels' rates.

But tourism officials said hotels have the right to decide their own prices. "We suggest hotels set their prices according to market demand," said an official from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism. "We won't arbitrarily set the prices."

The Beijing Tourism Administration estimates that during the 2008 Games, Beijing can expect to receive 500,000 to 550,000 overseas tourists and spectators, and 2.58 million domestic visitors.

(China.org.cn, China Daily June 14, 2006)